Red Stained Heiress
by NobleMETA
Summary: Weiss Schnee is tough, strong minded, and dependable, but will she still be after watching her leader get injured defending the heiress? With her own mind turning against her, how could Weiss overcome her greatest challenge yet?-One Shot fic with lots of sadness and feels, some White Rose, and a bit of a silver lining at the end.


The snow flurried down around her, keeping Weiss from being able to look at what was around her. She walked forward, trying her hardest not to lose her way, yet no matter what she had no idea where it was that she was walking. Though she was blinded by the snow as it whipped against her face, she knew one thing was for certain, she was all alone out there

No matter how hard she tried to see, the most she could make out was objects that were right in front of her. How the snowfall managed to come down this hard in between trees, Weiss didn't know, but she wasn't going to let it distract her. She needed to find her way out fast, fearing that something might be waiting for her around the next tree trunk when she couldn't tell it was there. It drove Weiss to continue her walk forward, hoping that if there was anything out there, that she would be able to avoid running into it.

That all changed not a moment later, when a pack of wolves appeared from the snow's fury and jumped at her. Weiss didn't have time to react to what was going on, taking the full force of a wolf's tackle that sent her flying down onto the ground. The wolf that had lunged at her was off of her soon afterwards, opening up an opportunity for another to jump into the fray.

Frantically pulling out Myrtenaster, Weiss tried her hardest to fight back. But she was in a dangerous position, and when she tried to stop one wolf, another would come from the other way and rip it's teeth into her flesh, claw at her body, and tear her clothes. She couldn't stop them all from coming at her, and now she felt helpless and weak.

But then she heard a familiar sound.

She opened her eyes wide to see her partner fighting off the wolves as best she could, sparing Weiss from more agony and pain. She swung her scythe around, though Weiss could barely see the red blur through the storm. She was wondering what was happening with Ruby, whether or not she was besting the creatures.

When she heard the first of Ruby's screams though, she knew that there was no hope left.

Weiss frantically tried to move towards her partner, battling pain coming from all over in order to reach the leader of team RWBY. Her body screamed at her to stop, sending waves of pain surging through her entire body. Weiss ignored all of it though, to reach her partner, this was important to her to see.

When Weiss finally found Ruby, she was mortified by what she was watching. The wolves were starting to tear into her flesh and Ruby's screams were as loud as day. Weiss panicked, shooting a ball of fire right above the creatures heads, scaring them off. Once they had left, Weiss rushed over to Ruby's side, her own pain forgotten completely.

She tried hard to stop the blood from seeping onto the ground, painting the snow around them red. All she managed to do though, was cover her own hands in the blood of her partner. Weiss looked up at Ruby, finally realizing that she was no longer screaming in pain. What she saw mortified her even more, the glow of life completely snuffed out of Ruby's eyes.

Ruby was cold, her blood stopped pumping, and as Weiss looked between her and her own hands, she screamed.

Weiss shot up from where she was laying, covered in sweat and gasping for air. Her eyes were wide open and in that moment, she realized that everything she had just seen was a dream. Propped up on her elbows, she looked around the room, her teammates all still asleep comfortably in the night. Once Weiss realized that she just came out of a nightmare, she dropped her head back against the pillow.

Her heart was racing wildly and she was breathing heavily after what she experienced. Wiping her head with her arm, she noticed just how covered she was in her own sweat. Once her heart rate dropped to a suitable level, Weiss pushed her way off of the side of the bed.

But she forgot that she had to take Ruby's bed for the next few nights. As a result of her memory loss, she dropped from Ruby's bed down to the floor, landing awkwardly and slightly rolling her ankle. Doing her best to keep the scream of pain at bay, she tested her ankle before standing back up on it. After she stood, she looked around the room to see if she accidentally woke anyone up as a result of her actions.

'_Good, everyone's still asleep,_' Weiss thought to herself as she looked to her teammates, her gaze stopping on her partner Ruby, who laid in her bed. '_I'm sorry Ruby, this is all my fault. You wouldn't be hurt if it wasn't for my own stupidity._'

Images flashed through Weiss' mind, forcing her to recall what had caused Ruby to be in the position she was in the first place. Weiss remembered the mission they had gone on, how it was supposed to be a simple hunt. She saw Ruby jump in the way of a pack of beowolves that would have killed her in a heartbeat. Ruby got hurt protecting her, being cut up along her side, and breaking her wrist because Weiss wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her.

Now, all Weiss felt was guilt over what had been her mistake. She should be the one who was hurt, not Ruby. Recalling what it was she saw from her dream, she blinked and saw Ruby covered in blood, and it nearly caused her to scream. She was fortunate that she held it in, for not a moment later, Ruby was normal, the image Weiss saw only her own mind playing tricks on her.

'_Oh god I need to get some air,_' Weiss frantically thought to herself.

She rushed over to grab her combat gear from the closet and she picked up Myrtenaster from the side of her bed, though she was mindful of her teammates, who were still sleeping soundly. Moments later, she was fully dressed and walked towards the door. Taking one last look at Ruby, Weiss felt a pang of guilt pierce her heart. She closed her eyes and opened the door, stepping out into the night all on her own.

* * *

><p>The cool refreshing air of the forest outside was somewhat welcoming to Weiss. It gave her the chance to escape from the confines of her room, gave her time to herself. She walked mostly by moonlight, her mind filled with thoughts of what she just had to experience back at her room.<p>

'_That was some nightmare,_' Weiss thought to herself as she walked the paths of the forest of Forever Fall. '_I already feel bad about what happened to Ruby, why did I have to go and deal with nightmares on top of that? It's just not fair._'

The images of blood covering Ruby were still stirring around in her mind. Weiss was terrified of what she could think up, fearing what images her mind would concoct at the worst of times. She was afraid to fall back to sleep in case she had another nightmare. '_What happens if I have a flash of memory like that while I'm in class? I'm sure that I would easily make a fool of myself if I freaked out like I did before I left._'

Deep in the confines of her mind, Weiss forgot one of the most important rules of life. When going out into the forest on your own, you need to pay attention to your surroundings, for the creatures of Grimm are always watching. Weiss was too lost in thought to pay attention to what was coming, until it was already on her.

One second, Weiss was thinking about everything that was bothering her, worried about what was going on with her mind. The next, she felt something impact the left side of her face right along the cheek. It wasn't a truly painful blow, but it would be enough to leave a very noticeable bruise in a few minutes time.

The blow had sent Weiss backwards a few feet and down onto the ground. Surprised by the impact, Weiss looked up to see that an Ursa was stood upon the spot she was not a moment before. Thankful that she brought Myrtenaster with her, Weiss brought it up to defend herself against the beast.

Adrenaline pumping through her body, Weiss' mind was finally on the here and now, focused solely on killing the monster in front of her. She felt calmed at the prospect of finally having her mind cleared of all distractions, even if it was only temporarily.

The beast charged towards her, acting on feral instinct alone. Based on the bone protrusions from its body, Weiss knew that this Grimm hasn't been around for too long, and was still wet behind the ears. She took advantage of this fact, knowing it would be an easier battle, and played the beast into her hands.

Dodging out of the way of it's charge, Weiss prepped Myrtenaster to fire off ice dust, and she impacted the tip of her rapier by the beasts foot. Releasing the dust, Weiss trapped the beasts foot in a casing made of ice. Upon seeing the ice however, Weiss felt her mind start to slip again. She was fortunate to be out of the creatures reach as this happened, else her head would have been gone during her freeze.

Moments later, she shook her head and cleared the images from her mind again. Instead of taking it easy like she originally planned to do, Weiss jumped up into the air and landed on top of the Grimm's back, impaling the beast's head with her rapier on the way down. The beast's body went limp as life left its demonic body, and Weiss rolled off of the creature with ease.

Knowing that more creatures were on the way, Weiss ran off back towards the school before she let herself commit any more mistakes.

* * *

><p>Some time had gone by before Weiss returned to the dorm room. The hour was extremely late, Weiss noticing the clock on her scroll before she opened the door saying that it was currently 3:45 in the morning. Way too early to wake up, yet too late to be already awake. She remembered that the rest of her team was still asleep at this point, so Weiss did her best to stay quiet while she entered the room.<p>

She grabbed her nightgown and walked over to the bathroom, changing out of her combat attire in the dark. As her hands and her outfit brushed against her face, she felt the sting of where the Ursa had impacted her beforehand. Once she was fully changed, Weiss decided to take a look at how badly her face looked.

When Weiss turned the light on and looked into the mirror, she gasped in horror at the sight before her. She saw just how bad her bruise was, her left cheek shaded a dark purple from her cheek bone to just above her mouth. After seeing just how bad it looked, Weiss finally felt the pain that was emanating from that spot, and she started to mutter out curses as a result.

Reaching over to her makeup bag, Weiss pulled out something to cover up the bruise and make it appear as though nothing was wrong with her. It would be hard to cover up, but there were times when she had to do this before, so she knew exactly what to do. Unfortunately she knew just how painful it would be to apply, especially on a bruise of this size. Weiss knew that this would hurt much worse than anything else before, but it had to be done.

Outside of the bathroom, the light that was shining into the dorm room was enough to wake up one of Weiss' teammates. Blake Belladonna, the most likely to wake up due to her faunus nature, started to stir, unbeknownst to Weiss. Blake started to hear the string of curses coming from the bathroom and stood up to go see what was happening. Weiss had accidentally left the door partially open, which was cause to Blake waking in the first place, but it gave Blake the chance to see what happened to Weiss before she went to speak to her.

"Weiss?" Blake whispered to Weiss, who jumped at hearing her name being called out. Weiss wasn't expecting to hear someone call out to her, and so it came as a shock when it did come.

As a result of Weiss' jump, she sent her makeup bag all over the bathroom floor, and she herself was so startled that she pressed herself against the wall. Upon seeing that it was Blake who was standing at the door, calling out her name, Weiss suddenly felt trapped. She didn't have enough time to cover up her bruise, and so surely she would be asked about it, which would lead to Weiss having to recall her nightmare.

"What happened to you?" Blake asked. Though she was still whispering, she was firmer with her tone, and full to the brim with concern. She walked in with Weiss and shut the door behind her so that no one else would wake up as a result. Watching Weiss slide down so that she sat on the floor, Blake knelt down and placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder, hoping that it would comfort the girl enough to speak.

"N-nothing, just couldn't fall asleep and rolled out of bed in a bad way I guess," Weiss lied. "I guess I just forgot to shut the door all the way, sorry for waking you."

Blake though, saw the weapon laying across the floor of the bathroom, the dried blood of the Ursa Weiss had killed earlier covering the blade. She could tell that Weiss was lying, though why she was, Blake didn't know.

"Weiss, don't do this to us, don't shut us out like this," Blake pleaded. "You said that something big comes up, we come to our teammates about it." Weiss thought back to that moment at the docks where she said that exact same thing to Blake after learning she was a faunus. Oh the irony of her own words, being used against her now. "I can tell that you're lying and I want to help, so can you tell me what's really going on?"

Weiss looked over at what had caught Blake's eye, noticing Myrtenaster on the floor, still covered in blood. At the sight of it, Weiss felt her pulse rise, her chest tighten, she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees, her breathing became heavier and her eyes trapped shut. She felt nervous, knowing that her mind was starting to refill with memories of what had happened, what she saw in her nightmare. She couldn't take it, she felt tears start to drop out of her eyes.

Blake noticed this and instantly wrapped her arms around Weiss, hoping that maybe she could help her feel better if she knew that she was in the comfort of friends. After a few seconds, Weiss took a deep breath and looked up at Blake.

"God I look like a mess right now don't I?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

"Aside from the bruise, at first glance you look fine," Blake replied, being as honest as possible. "But you know that I'm not the only one who is going to ask what's wrong. Ruby and Yang are going to be able to tell the instant they see you. You look terrified of something."

Weiss shut her eyes and let her head fall backwards into the wall. "God I'm so stupid," She relented. Weiss knew that she had to say something, even if it wasn't everything that was going on. Something was better than nothing.

"Oh come on, you're Weiss Schnee, the most intelligent girl in all of Beacon Academy," Blake said, hoping to cheer Weiss up even more. "I doubt that whatever is bothering you could be cause to say that you're stupid."

Weiss wasn't feeling any better, and in fact, Blake could have swore that she inadvertently made things worse for the heiress. "Earlier tonight I had a nightmare," Weiss confided. "I don't want to get into that, but because of it, I stupidly went out for a walk to try and clear my head." Weiss couldn't help but chuckle at herself a little bit. "All I get for it though is a giant bruise on my face that I have to cover up."

"You're in a combat school though, I'm sure people wouldn't be surprised if you were walking around with a bruise or two," Blake argued.

"But as you said earlier, it's me," Weiss counter-argued. "I'm always set up to a higher standard, so people are bound to ask questions, you know that." Weiss stood up and walked over to the mirror, looking at herself in its reflection. "I'm supposed to be on a level where I'm above everyone else, and I can't even protect myself from getting hurt."

A thought suddenly crossed Blake's mind, giving her some small amount of insight into what Weiss was thinking. Standing up, Blake walked right up next to Weiss and spoke as gentle as she possibly could. "Is this about what happened to Ruby?"

The mere mention of the name caused Weiss to nearly collapse with grief and guilt. She wanted the images to stop following her, to stop bringing her down and causing her to feel weak. Blake wrapped her arm around Weiss to help keep her upright, knowing that she had hit the nail almost perfectly on the head.

"I'm so sorry, Weiss," Blake said. "I didn't realize you felt this bad about it."

"It's all my fault she's hurt," Weiss muttered. Her voice sounded weak and Blake knew she was breaking. Even if it wasn't right away, she was slowly breaking apart at the seams. "I wasn't strong enough, and I wasn't paying any attention. Because of me, she got hurt. I should be the one laying there hurt, not her."

"Would you want Ruby to be in this position instead?" Blake questioned. "Crying in the bathroom because she feels guilty over what happened?"

Weiss snapped her attention to Blake. "I wish Ruby wouldn't be hurt at all, and that she was resting sound asleep in her bed while I deal with all of this suffering. I don't want to see her hurt or sad, and it hurts when I do see that from her." Weiss' head returned to the direction of the mirror after her little snap.

Giving it a second thought, Blake figured out what else was going on that Weiss wasn't telling her. "You're in love with Ruby, aren't you?"

Weiss shut her eyes. Blake finally put it all together. "About 2 weeks now," Weiss confessed.

Wrapping her arms around Weiss again, Blake rubbed her back in the hopes that it would comfort her. "I'm so sorry Weiss," Blake whispered, doing everything she could to help Weiss feel better. Knowing that words could do no more to help, Blake decided to take a more practical approach.

"I'll be right back in a second," She said to Weiss. "I'm gonna get an ice pack for that bruise. Might have to get Yang though since she knows where it is."

When she heard Yang's name, Weiss grabbed a hold of Blake's wrist before she could leave. "Please try not to, ok?"

Letting out a sigh, Blake gave Weiss a sympathetic look. "I'll do what I can, but I may have to, just so you know." She pushed Weiss to sit down on the toilet. "You stay here until I come back." After she let go of Weiss, Blake walked out of the bathroom and tried to find the team's ice pack. Even with her faunus sight, she couldn't find it, and was forced to wake Yang as a result.

Shaking the blonde gently, Blake managed to wake Yang up enough that she could ask her what she needed to. "Yang, where's the ice pack?"

Yawning, Yang looked over at the clock, noticing how it was 4:10 in the morning. "It's over in our desk on the bottom drawer, why do you ask?" Instead of responding, Blake simply grabbed the ice pack and made her way back to the bathroom. Yang, showing concern over what was going on, decided to climb out of bed and follow Blake.

Yang wasn't expecting to see Weiss in the bathroom with a giant bruise on her face. Yang noticed how Weiss started to shy away when she saw Yang approaching, and how Blake silently told her that she just needed some comfort instead of talking. With Blake holding the ice pack up to Weiss' face, Yang wrapped herself around Weiss and let the natural warmth soothe Weiss' aching body.

Weiss didn't have any more tears to shed, and just sat there silently as the two worked to ail her of her pains. There was only so much that they could do however, and eventually, Weiss spoke up to them when she felt physically better.

"You two should get some sleep now," Weiss said, no emotion evident in the way she sounded. Blake and Yang felt as though she was broken down so much that she didn't know what to feel anymore at that moment.

"Are you sure about that Weiss? I don't mind staying up if you need us to," Yang responded, her motherly instincts kicking in.

"I'll be heading to sleep in a few minutes myself, so get some rest, please," Weiss pleaded with her teammates.

Blake and Yang decided that Weiss wasn't going to listen to them if they tried to argue, and decided that sleep would be good for all of them. They each gave Weiss a hug before returning to their beds and falling asleep somewhat easily. Weiss herself walked out of the bathroom soon afterwards, throwing her combat outfit into the closet and climbing back up onto Ruby's bed.

She knew that she wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep that night.

As she lay there atop of Ruby's bed, she knew that sleep was going to be the last thing on her mind. Her mind was going to be working against her whether she was awake or not. No matter what she would do, she would see the images of what had happened, and there was not a thing she could do to stop it. So all Weiss could do was lay there, begging that the night be over soon.

* * *

><p>After the sun rose and shined into team RWBY's dorm room, Weiss was right in her prediction of not getting any more sleep that night. Once the first beams of light entered the room, Weiss hopped off of Ruby's bed, this time taking care to not land awkwardly as a result, and proceeded to head into the bathroom where she planned to shower in order to stay awake.<p>

While she let the water pelt her body, her mind continued to torment her, playing her emotions against herself and making her doubt everything she thought true. Looking down at her own hands, she saw them covered in blood and instantly freaked out, slipping and falling down in the shower. Fortunately she wasn't hurt, nor did she give her teammates a reason to come charging in. When she looked at her hands again though, they were clean of all impurities.

'_If I have to deal with this all day, then I'm in a world of trouble,_' Weiss thought to herself as she finished with her shower and climbed out from under the water.

She quickly dried herself off and changed into her school uniform since she brought it with her into the bathroom. Weiss was fortunate that she decided to clean up the mess she had made the night before, taking care to ensure that no evidence of her breakdown the night before was prominent. Myrtenaster was cleaned of any blood and placed back where it belonged, her makeup was returned to her bag, and the ice pack was placed under the sink.

She saw the bruise in the mirror that she never finished covering up. Pulling the makeup she was using for it the night before out of her bag, she gently applied it over the bruise. It was much easier to do this time since she was able to let it heal for a little bit at first, though it still hurt in any case. Once she was finished, she placed the makeup back in the bag and walked out of the bathroom.

Upon doing so, she noticed that the rest of her teammates were stirring, just on the cusps of alertness. Weiss knew that Blake would be concerned for her, realizing that she would remember all of what happened the night before, and there was a possibility that Yang might as well. She didn't want them to be concerned though, she wanted them to act as though nothing was wrong, which in the case of Ruby, would happen for her teammate, but not for her.

She could already feel herself clam up when she saw Ruby smile, a quick image of a bloody Ruby popping up in her mind.

"Wow, you're up early today Weiss, you sleep well?" Ruby asked sounding chipper as usual. How she managed to start each day that bright and cheerful, Weiss would never know.

"Oh, uh, y-yeah everything's fine," Weiss stammered out. She hated having to lie to Ruby, but if Ruby knew what was going on in her head, then Weiss would lose total control of what was going on. Even though she had a breakdown the night before, she was still able to control herself enough so that she didn't become a shambling mess of her former self.

"You sure? Because you look kinda tired," Ruby pointed out to Weiss.

Weiss held her hands up defensively in front of her. "Oh no, everything's fine, guess I just need to wake up a bit still," Weiss lied. She knew that she had to get out before her mind betrayed her again, and so she made her escape. "I'm gonna get going now and get something to eat, maybe that would help."

She quickly walked out the door and slammed it shut behind her, leaving her teammates completely stumped as to what just happened.

After a few moments of silence, Ruby finally spoke up. "What the heck was that? I know she can be cranky in the mornings, but she doesn't need to be completely freaky like she was," Ruby said.

Yang looked at Blake, both of them wearing very long faces, and the two knew that they had to tell her something. "Ruby, Weiss had a bad night last night," Yang confessed, letting her head drop as she spoke.

"What?"

"We ended up being woken up in the night because Weiss wasn't doing so well," Yang continued. "If you noticed really carefully, she's wearing makeup over her left cheek to cover up a huge bruise, and it's clear that something is bothering her."

Before Yang could say any more, Blake cut in. "It's not our place to say what is going on with Weiss, but in all honesty, I don't think she got any sleep after we cared for her last night. She apparently had a nightmare last night, but I don't know what it was about," Blake chimed in. "If you want to talk to her about it, just be careful not to hurt her any more as a result."

Ruby looked down at the ground, her heart worried for what Weiss was going through. "Right, I'll be sure to find her later today and talk with her about it," Ruby said, lifting her head to reassure her teammates that everything would be fine.

* * *

><p>By the time Ruby was heading to lunch, she hadn't gotten a single good opportunity to speak to Weiss about what was going on. She had to sit through class seeing Weiss bear the brunt of this problem all on her own, and Ruby could tell that it was affecting her greatly. Weiss seemed less focused in class, she participated notably less, and Ruby was sure that she wasn't the only one who noticed it.<p>

When she saw Weiss sit down with them at lunch, she decided to ask her about it. Conversations were going on all around them, and she figured that everyone else would be too busy enjoying their food or laughing at their friends to notice what was going on with them.

"Hey, you still feeling tired Weiss?" Ruby asked, deciding to ease into the conversation she wanted to get to in the end.

"A little bit, nothing too unbearable though," Weiss responded, though her heart really wasn't in the conversation at all.

"Yeah, seemed like you were having a hard time getting through class today because of it," Ruby said next. Weiss was content to let the conversation end there, hoping that Ruby would stop where it was going and just let her be. "Normally if you're tired though, you aren't as bad as you were today, so it got me thinking."

Before Ruby even uttered what she said to Weiss next, Weiss felt herself start to clam up again, freezing with her head staring down at the ground in shame. She had been found out by the one person she didn't want to know, and now she had to listen to Ruby show how concerned she was for Weiss.

"Why did you lie to me this morning?" Ruby asked, genuinely hurt by what Weiss did. "Why did you say that you were fine when you clearly aren't?"

Weiss felt her heart rate skyrocket, the same tightness in her chest returning again. Weiss worked hard to keep her breathing under control, but it was growing difficult to do so. The images returning to her head, blocking out everything else around her.

"Ruby, I don't want to talk about it," Weiss said.

"Why can't you tell me though? We're partners so you should be able to tell me these kind of things," Ruby responded.

"Ruby, can you please just stop asking about it?" Weiss asked, desperation starting to take over. She knew if it kept up, she wouldn't be able to stop what was coming.

"What is it that's such a big deal that you're too afraid to tell me? Weiss, why can't you let me in?" Ruby pleaded, hoping Weiss would respond to her about it.

Inadvertently, Weiss did respond to that, though it wasn't in the way that Ruby hoped she would. Looking down at her hands, Weiss saw the image of them covered in blood and she stood up and ran out of the cafeteria, drawing the attention of many an onlooker. Weiss was fortunate enough that she kept her tears hidden inside while she ran, but even she knew that wouldn't last forever.

While the rest of her team sat seated at the lunch table wondering what had just happened, Ruby looked horrified at what she saw. She realized that she wasn't listening to Weiss and now she felt guilty about it. Letting her head crash down to the table, Ruby moaned her displeasure with herself, hearing the confused chirps of the rest of the students around her. She wanted them to stop talking about it, looking over to see Yang getting ready to snap on everyone who made a bad comment.

Fortunately none of that would be needed, once an oh too familiar yet powerful voice came upon the cafeteria. "Everyone, return to your own business, this is more serious than you know, and does not concern you," Ozpin said as he walked towards team RWBY's table. Once he arrived he looked to Ruby and offered her his hand to help her stand up. "I think you and I need to talk about what just happened."

Ruby stood up, as did Blake and Yang. Before they were fully up however, Ozpin stopped them. "I'm sorry ladies, but this is a conversation I need to speak with Ruby about alone," He solemnly said to Ruby's teammates. Watching Blake and Yang sit back down, Ozpin led Ruby out of the crowded cafeteria and over to some place more private for them to talk.

To Ruby, the hallways seemed long and dark, giving her the impression that she was in trouble for some reason. She slowly walked with Ozpin to one of the classrooms that were empty, and he led her down to the front so that they could sit down together and speak freely.

"Care to explain to me what it is that just happened?" Ozpin inquired.

Ruby really didn't know what to say, thinking about everything that she knew up to that point. "Well, Weiss had been acting really strange all day, like something was bearing down on her," Ruby began. "She apparently had a rough night last night, but lied to me and said that nothing was wrong before leaving in a hurry. It's really worrying me to see her like that, but I don't know what I could possibly do to help her. Heck I don't even know what's bothering her."

After seeing what he saw for himself, Ozpin almost knew exactly what it was that Weiss was going through. There was going to be no easy way for him to say this, but it had to be said to Ruby so she could fix what was wrong.

"Ruby, I believe that Weiss may be suffering from post-traumatic stress," Ozpin revealed.

To say that Ruby was surprised to hear that would be an understatement. She never once believed that Weiss would be the kind of person who experienced that. Given how recently it has been since Ruby was injured, Ruby realized what it was that caused it in the first place. "So, me getting hurt on this mission caused Weiss to feel this way?"

"That may be only part of the problem, but yes, it does seem to be partially why Miss Schnee is as distraught as she currently is," Ozpin responded. Ozpin knew that it wasn't just that alone, but any multitude of reasons all put together that were causing this. But he knew that in order to fix this, Ruby would need to solve the main root of the problem, and all the rest would dissipate into memory on their own.

Ruby looked upset with herself, feeling as if she was to blame. Upon seeing this, Ozpin lifted her chin up so she could look at him. He gave her a comforting smile that he hoped would help her through this. "Ruby do not go blaming yourself for things you could not expect to happen. If it is because of your injury, remember why you got hurt in the first place. You did it to save her life, and if you didn't then she might not be here."

Just the thought of not having Weiss around made Ruby shiver with horror. Seeing this, Ozpin continued. "You have the power to help your partner make it through this difficult time, so instead of worrying about what is causing her to be stressed out, go find her and comfort her. She'll tell you what it is that is bothering her when she is ready to do so, you just got to wait for her to be ready."

Thinking things through, Ruby knew Ozpin was right all along. She shouldn't have just blindly rushed in the way she had, and now she needed to fix her mistake. "Thanks Professor Ozpin," Ruby said, bowing to the man before taking of to find Weiss. Ruby always knew that Ozpin was wise, and she was glad that he was able to steer her in the right direction when she didn't know the way.

After watching Ruby run off, Ozpin gave a small smile, standing up and walking out of the room moments later. "You'll make a fine leader someday Miss Rose, just don't forget that everyone needs help finding the answers from time to time."

* * *

><p>Quickly opening the door to her room, Weiss finally reached the one place she felt free to empty her overflow of emotions. She burst into tears, sobbing loudly while having her mind flood itself with the images of blood and death that she didn't want to see. Feeling as though hiding alone in the room wasn't enough, Weiss walked over to the closet and shut the door behind her while she was inside, locking herself in.<p>

Her mind was distraught with everything she was playing for herself in her head. Seeing Ruby selflessly throw herself in harms way during a mission and getting herself hurt was just the start. Her nightmare in which she saw Ruby's flesh being torn to shreds by wolves only made things worse. She saw images of Ruby's body bloodied and lifeless, the blood of her teammate on her own hands, and it all scared her, made her afraid of herself.

She looked down at her hands, her own mind coloring them blood red, and she wrapped tucked her legs up into her chest while she sobbed into her knees. She leaned against the wall to keep her upright, but in the end, she didn't think it would matter if she was against the wall or against the floor, she was still a mess.

"God dammit, why won't this go away?" Weiss sobbed out loud, believing no one was around to hear her.

Crying what felt like a good half hour, she didn't hear the door to the dorm room open up. In came her partner, who heard the sobs coming as soon as she opened the door. Weiss didn't realize that Ruby was there until she heard the knocks on the closet door, snapping her out of her self induced depression and drawing her attention towards the door.

"Weiss, it's Ruby," Ruby said, though this time Weiss knew she sounded regretful over what she did. "I'm sorry for doing what I did to you, Weiss. I just want to know, can I at least give you a hug as a way to say I'm sorry?"

It was such a simple request, such a 'Ruby' request. Despite wanting to be alone, she felt like she needed to do this, for her own sake. She stood up, wiped the tears off with her jacket and walked towards the door. There was nothing she could do to hide it any more than that, since Ruby knew that she was truly upset, but she didn't care.

Opening up, she saw Ruby, red faced herself from what Weiss assumed to be crying, and holding out her arms gingerly hoping Weiss would welcome the hug. Upon seeing this, Weiss all but threw herself into Ruby, taking care to avoid hurting the girl any more. Weiss sank her head into Ruby's shoulder, letting tears burst through again. She cried into Ruby's shoulder profusely, not showing any concern what the girl thought of her any more.

"I'm sorry," Weiss mumbled into Ruby's shoulder. Ruby glanced down at Weiss, but couldn't ask why before her teammate continued. "It's all my fault you got hurt, I'm not strong enough to protect myself and now you're hurt because of me."

Ruby pulled out of the hug so that she could look at Weiss' eyes, which were filled with tears. "Weiss, I don't blame you for that, you would have done the same thing for me if I was in your position," Ruby admitted, something to which Weiss agreed on. "Please don't blame yourself for this ok?"

Walking the pair over to Weiss' bed, Ruby sat down next to her friend and let her get all of her emotional troubles out, without asking her to explain anything at all. She spent what felt like forever just sitting there feeling the sobs from her teammate course through her, the wetness from Weiss' tears dampening the crook of her neck.

Minutes later, Weiss finally sat up, she looked like she had let quite a bit out, but now Weiss knew she wanted to tell Ruby everything, because of how much Ruby has helped her through this.

"Look, about what's been going on-"

Ruby placed a finger over Weiss' lips, stopping her from continuing. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Weiss," Ruby said.

"I know, but I do want to tell you about it, you deserve to know what it is," Weiss admitted. "Though, it may take me a while to explain everything."

Wrapping her arms around Weiss, Ruby reassured her that she would still be there. "Take your time, Weiss, I'm not going anywhere."

Weiss was doing all that she could to slow her accelerated heart rate, taking deep breaths to calm her body and mind, all while thinking of where to begin. "Last night, while everyone was asleep, I had a nightmare," Weiss began.

"I was alone in a forest that was blanked out by a terrible snowstorm. I couldn't see where I was going and I was attacked by a pack of wolves, but," Weiss said, tearing up as she recalled what happened in her dream. "You stepped in to fight the wolves and defend me, but they ended up killing you. I saw as they started to tear your flesh apart and devour you, how you screamed in pain at what was happening. When I managed to get them off of you, you died right in front of me, your blood covering my hands."

Ruby pulled Weiss into a hug, knowing that she needed to let her tears out before she continued. After hearing what Weiss had dreamt about, Ruby could see why Weiss was so distraught. "At that point, I woke up, and went out to Forever Fall to try and clear my head. That was a mistake because an Ursa got the jump on me and gave me this bruise that I'm sure you know about already."

Ruby didn't want Weiss to push herself into this, but something in Weiss kept her going. "The biggest part of what has been bothering me, is that I feel it's my fault that you're hurt. I feel responsible for what happened and it hurts me seeing you as vulnerable as you are."

"Weiss, I already told you, I don't blame you for what happened," Ruby confided. "I could never blame you for it."

Weiss smiled at Ruby, thankful that she was so forgiving. "All the same I still feel that way," Weiss continued. Her face drew dark again as she went on to explain further. "All night yesterday, and all day today, I kept seeing images of you covered in blood, I see the blood that was on my hands during the dream. Before I ran off in the cafeteria, I looked down at my hands and to me they were bloody and I just, I-"

Weiss couldn't say any more after that, she needed to stop and let out the tears that had reformed in her eyes. Ruby was very understanding of what she was going through, and gave Weiss as much time as she needed, whispering comforting words to her partner while she cried.

Once Weiss seemed finished crying, Ruby spoke up. "Weiss, despite what had happened in your dream, and what happened during our mission, I promise you that I won't be going away anytime soon," Ruby decreed. Instead of words, Weiss responded by wrapping her arms around Ruby and sighing, relieved that it felt over. Weiss knew that the images would fade with time, and that she would grow stronger because of this, but for now, she felt allowed to take in this moment of comfort from her partner.

"You know, I think that the two of us deserve a nap, since we're both pretty tired right now," Ruby suggested.

Whether it was because of how tired Weiss felt, or because she wanted to enjoy this peace with Ruby, Weiss stood up and grabbed both of their pajamas, tossing hers to Ruby. Once they were changed, Weiss was preparing to climb into Ruby's bed, when she felt a hand grab her wrist.

"Not up there Weiss, down here with me," Ruby declared. Feeling as though she was ordered to do so, Weiss sat down on her bed, feeling all the heat rise to her cheeks and paint them a fairly red blush, at least on the one side. After a few moments of maneuvering so they were both comfortable, Weiss finally felt as though she was ready to sleep.

"Thanks, Ruby, for everything," Weiss mentioned. In her tired state, she leaned forward and kissed Ruby. Realizing what she was doing soon afterwards, she snapped back and went into a panic. "Oh my god I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me." Weiss was about to jump out of the bed before once again feeling a hand on her wrist.

"That was, unexpected?" Ruby said, confused as to how she should feel about that. "But, it felt nice." Giving Weiss a smile, Ruby gently pulled Weiss back down to her. "We can talk about that after our nap, for now, just relax." Kissing Weiss' cheek, Ruby turned Weiss onto her side and wrapped herself around her partner from behind, as if she were shielding her from the monsters that lay in wait.

The feeling felt comforting to Weiss, and it gave her pleasure knowing that there may be hope for her and Ruby after all. '_Thank you, Ruby, for everything,_' Weiss thought to herself while she laid there. When she finally fell into sleep's embrace, she did so with a smile.

* * *

><p>Towards the end of the day, the door to team RWBY's room opened. Blake and Yang having just finished up the day. The room was dark, but they could tell that Ruby and Weiss were in there, sleeping soundly. When they saw that the two were sharing a bed together, Yang couldn't help but snap a picture for the memory. Blake had told her about what Weiss said regarding her feelings for Ruby, and Yang was actually happy about it, proclaiming that Weiss would be a great person for Ruby to be with. Once she got her photo however, Yang and Blake quickly and quietly left the room to go across the hall so that they could give Ruby and Weiss the rest they so well deserved.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: 8017 words. That's how long this story is, and it is now the single longest piece that I have written as a single part. No chapter in any of my other stories comes close in length, and the closest one shot I wrote in terms of length was Forever. God this has been one hell of an adventure writing this out and man, it sure does give me some kind of adrenaline boost.<strong>

**I thought of this idea not twenty four hours ago by the time I post this, and look how long it took for me to get it out to you, especially with how long it is. Personally I can't believe just how I managed to do it, but hell, I did.**

**For any of you who reads this, thank you for doing so, you guys are incredible, and I love each and every one of you for reading this one shot. Hopefully it didn't kick your feels too hard, and I hope you enjoyed what you read.**

**-NobleMETA**


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